cli: write module instead of using a virtual module

Co-authored-by: Philipp Hugenroth <philipph@spotify.com>
Signed-off-by: Vincenzo Scamporlino <vincenzos@spotify.com>

packages/autodetect/src/index.ts

@@ -34,9 +34,10 @@ type DetectedModule = {
  * @public
  */
 function getAvailablePlugins(): DetectedPlugin[] {
-  const { modules } = __webpack_require__(
-    './node_modules/backstage-autodetected-plugins.js',
-  ) as { modules: DetectedModule[] };
+  // eslint-disable-next-line @backstage/no-undeclared-imports
+  const { modules } = require('backstage-autodetected-plugins') as {
+    modules: DetectedModule[];
+  };
 
   return modules
     .map(splitPluginFromComponents)

packages/cli/src/lib/bundler/config.ts

@@ -22,7 +22,6 @@ import ModuleScopePlugin from 'react-dev-utils/ModuleScopePlugin';
 import { RunScriptWebpackPlugin } from 'run-script-webpack-plugin';
 import webpack, { ProvidePlugin } from 'webpack';
 import nodeExternals from 'webpack-node-externals';
-import VirtualModulesPlugin from 'webpack-virtual-modules';
 import { isChildPath } from '@backstage/cli-common';
 import { getPackages } from '@manypkg/get-packages';
 import { optimization } from './optimization';
@@ -39,6 +38,7 @@ import ESLintPlugin from 'eslint-webpack-plugin';
 import pickBy from 'lodash/pickBy';
 import yn from 'yn';
 import { readEntryPoints } from '../entryPoints';
+import path from 'path';
 
 const BUILD_CACHE_ENV_VAR = 'BACKSTAGE_CLI_EXPERIMENTAL_BUILD_CACHE';
 
@@ -128,17 +128,18 @@ export async function createConfig(
     }),
   );
 
-  if (extraPackages.length > 0) {
-    const requirePackageScript = extraPackages
-      ?.map(pkg => `{name: '${pkg}', module: require('${pkg}')}`)
-      .join(',');
+  const requirePackageScript = extraPackages
+    ?.map(pkg => `{name: '${pkg}', module: require('${pkg}')}`)
+    .join(',');
 
-    plugins.push(
-      new VirtualModulesPlugin({
-        'node_modules/backstage-autodetected-plugins.js': `module.exports = { modules: [${requirePackageScript}] };`,
-      }),
-    );
-  }
+  await fs.writeFile(
+    path.join(
+      cliPaths.targetRoot,
+      'node_modules',
+      'backstage-autodetected-plugins.js',
+    ),
+    `module.exports = { modules: [${requirePackageScript}] };`,
+  );
 
   const buildInfo = await readBuildInfo();
   plugins.push(